Network connections for an electronic device (e.g., computer system, personal digital assistant, set top box) are requested in many situations. For example, a user may wish to check for electronic mail messages, an electronic mail application may automatically check for electronic mail messages, an application may automatically check for updates, a user may access a public page via the World Wide Web, or the user may access a private page via the World Wide Web. Each of these actions involving a network connection may have different characteristics.
Unfortunately, this may result in, for example, an electronic mail application initiating a virtual private network (VPN) connection periodically for background fetch operations, which may require active participation by a computer user. This results in less than optimal network interaction, which may be frustrating and/or distracting to a user of the electronic device.